www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall from Faith to Myth

Straight from the horse's mouth:
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/156/story_15638_1.html

If this is not rank heresy and the teaching of Satan, I don't know what is. Compare this to the teachings of the desert fathers.

Joe

And this review is quite good:
http://www.ccwonline.org/osteen1.html

As I said, he is more of a psychologist than a theologian. On the other hand, if someone is suicidal from failure, I don't think that telling him that: "God is allowing the devil to give you this trial, so just accept it" is a healthy thing to say to someone who has a family to feed!

God WILL help us if we look to him, and though His help may not be grand, He will provide if we turn to him with our hearts and souls.

When my grandmother's first cousin's husband died (who was a fisherman and was able to fish to feed his family) in Greece during the Nazi occupation--a time when the Nazis were literally starving the people--and there were no jobs for men, no less women, she went to her local Orthodox priest. She cried out to him in despair, "How will I feed and raise my four young children without a husband"? He responded: "put all your faith in God, pray to Him, and He will provide for you." Miraculously, He did, and they all grew up fine and healthy-- the boys got jobs, saved enough money to give the necessary dowry of the time for their sister, and married their sister off. As was the custom, the boys then got married too.

The moral of the story is that Mr. Olsteen is kind of saying the same thing, albeit in a modern American materialistic Protestant way, to those people who may be very down and out.

Again, that *doesn't mean that I advocate or condone that kind of pop Evangelist mentality*, but that in analyzing why he draws the people he does, I think that this 'hope', and this Christian based 'pep talk', which he brings to people may be one factor. I also believe that after a while, alot of these people will feel better and then grow properly in their Apostolic churches.

I think that it is worth analyzing in an objective and non-passionate manner. Infact, we in our Bible Study did this one day together with our priest, when he wondered out loud about how this guy can fill a stadium, when we can't even fill a church. THAT is all I am saying.

In Christ,
Alice

Osteen's sermons work off a certain mindset that "if you speak evil," such as saying that abortion should be shunned, "you make evil happen." They call it positive preaching.

I have known many good people in his church, but his message can be destructive to a person's soul.

Terry

Joel Olsteen and his wife are good, decent people, as far as I can tell. Yet, as Joe indicates, his teaching is clearly heretical in terms of apostolic Christianity.

Osteen promotes the Health and Wealth Gospel in a Slick Package.

On Sundays you can hear him and Wayne Dyer and there is no difference in their messages except that Osteen will occasionally say Bible.

If you are interested in pursuing this further, I recommend a book written by Ann Monroe entitled The Word: Imaging the Gospel in Modern America (Westminster John Knox Press, 2000). Although it is 7 years old, it is a good insight into the message being proclaimed in American pulpits. The author travels throughout the USA stopping at churches in many of the major Christian groups/churches (including Roman Catholic) and reports on what she finds there. It is fascinating!

From Publishers Weekly
What do Americans do when they read the Bible? This lucid, observant book by a former Wall Street Journal reporter captures a wide variety of Christians engaging with their inescapable and sometimes inexplicable sacred text. From the rarefied seminars of the Society for Biblical Literature to the carefully rehearsed lectures of conservative Bible teacher Kay Arthur, Monroe clearly has a reporter's knack for finding, and recounting, the telling moment. The result is an impressively drawn and multidimensional portrait of the ways in which American churches are helping (or not helping) their members grapple with Scripture. Monroe documents with painful precision how little the Bible is actually studied, much less understood, in both conservative and liberal camps. Anyone who has attempted to lead a Bible study or who has participated in one will wince at Monroe's alarmingly apt vignettes of discussions gone astray and self-expression masquerading as interpretation. ... This is an exceptional book and a model of personally engaged reporting.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.